Flood-resistant rice feeds hope for Filipinos
Posted: Tuesday, November 25, 2008 12:19 PM
By Ian Williams, NBC News correspondent
LAGUNA, Philippines - Robert Zeigler was a terrific host, bubbling with enthusiasm as he told me about the new varieties of rice that could bring enormous relief to the world's poor.
"This is a transformational technology. It gives me goose bumps," he said, pointing at clusters of rice stems emerging from a flooded paddy field. "These are tailored for floods. They basically hold their breath underwater."
He was pointing at a new variety of flood resistant rice, bred by the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), where he is Director General. "This will basically remove farmers in many parts of the world from being the victims of floods."
An assistant reminded him he was already late for another meeting, but Zeigler was getting into his stride, passionate about the Institute's research. They're also working on a variety of rice resistant to drought, he told me, and the Institute hosts the world's biggest seed bank – 100,000 varieties in cold storage inside a vast vault.
A morning with Dr. Zeigler at the Philippines-based IRRI leaves you wondering how the world could possibly be facing food shortages, but travel just a few miles from here and there is a very different picture.
Rice farmers are abandoning their land, unable to afford the new seeds. Half the paddies in this area lack irrigation, and few farmers have basic storage facilities. The soaring cost of fertilizer and pesticides have eaten into the small profits they could make from rice, pushing them into debt.
Click here to read the rest of Ian Williams report from the Philippines in the Daily Nightly blog and to the rest of the "Against the Grain" series about the global food crisis.
